Turkey Not Preparing to Invade Syria: Senior Official

A senior aide to Turkish president Tayyip Erdogan rejected suggestions that Turkey was preparing to intervene militarily in Syria.

There has been widespread speculation that Turkey might use military force to unilaterally establish a buffer zone inside Syria over fears that Kurdish forces may be tempted to carve out their own autonomous homeland, and after attacks by Islamic State militants.

The presidential aide, Ibrahim Kalin, told a news conference that Turkey was in discussions with NATO allies over its border security, but that the speculation over an invasion was not well founded.

“It is not sound to interpret measures which we have taken to secure our border with headlines like ‘Turkey is going into a war … Turkey is throwing itself into the fire’,” Kalin said, according to Reuters.

“Our security measures are entirely aimed at preserving our border security,” he said, adding that Ankara already had the necessary legal justification for moves that would preserve its border security, but without elaborating.

After a meeting on Monday, Turkey’s top security officials raised concerns about “demographic changes” in northern Syria following a string of military victories by Kurdish forces, but gave no indications of military action.

‘Syria Is Dying’: Israeli Official

A senior Israeli official says Syrian president Bashar Al-Assad controls just a fifth of the country and the state is “dying.”

“Syria is gone. Syria is dying. The funeral will be declared in due time. This Bashar Assad, he will be remembered in history textbooks as the one who lost Syria,” Amos Gilad, director of the Political-Military Affairs Bureau at the Israeli Defense Ministry, told an intelligence conference organized by the Israel Defense journal on Monday.

In his remarks, reported by the Jerusalem Post and other Israeli media, Gilad added that Assad may end up in charge of a rump [diminished] state dominated by his minority Alawite sect.

“Until now he has lost 75 percent of Syria … He is, practically, governor of 20 percent of Syria. And his future, if I may predict it, is shrinking all of the time. And maybe we will have him as the president of ‘Alawistan,’” he said.

Observers suggested that even though Israel and Syria have been long-time enemies, the remarks reflect concerns that the latter is undergoing a de facto – and unpredictable – partition.

U.N. Chief: World Should Be Ashamed over Syria

Describing the country as on the “brink of falling apart, ”the U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said world leaders should be “ashamed” of their inaction on the crisis.

In a statement marking the third anniversary of the Geneva agreement for a road map for peace for Syria that has completely failed to materialize, Ban noted that more than 220,000 Syrians have died in the conflict, about half of all Syrians have been displaced, civilians are regularly killed by indiscriminate barrel bombs and tens of thousands have been detained and tortured.

Meanwhile, he added, the country is increasingly falling into the hands of extremist groups.

“It is time to find an exit from this madness,” Ban said. “The international community, and in particular the Security Council, cannot afford to waste any further time in ending the cycle of violence.”

Recommended Reads

• Foreign Policy: Assad Goes on Spinning as Syria Burns
• Hurriyet Daily News: Establishing Syria Buffer Zone Means Engaging in War
• The Independent: They Are Neither a ‘State’ Nor ‘Islamic’: Why We Shouldn’t Call Them Isis, Isil or IS
• Gulf News: Syria Faces De Facto Partition
• Aquila Style: Shaking Faith: How ISIS is Causing Muslims to Abandon Islam
• The Century Foundation: No End in Sight: Why in the Current Situation There Is Little Hope for Syria
• Gatestone Institute: Turkey’s Wrong Bet on Syria